


Getting Out

by dramatic owl (snarky_panda)



Category: Hey Arnold!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark, False Identity, Future Fic, Gen, Mention of Canonical Character Death, Mention of Coercion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-18 17:55:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18124580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snarky_panda/pseuds/dramatic%20owl
Summary: She’d always wanted to travel the world with him.





	Getting Out

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the genprompt_bingo prompt: pack.

She’d always wanted to travel the world with him. As his significant other, at least, if not as his wife. 

Things didn’t work out as planned, not because they didn’t love each other. It was just that life happened, and they’d both ended up in places they’d never intended or imagined. As did many of the people they’d grown up with.

Oh, some of their old classmates had gotten out and made something of themselves. Or just gotten out. Sid and Curly had moved out of Hillwood before high school and they’d lost track of them both. Harold Berman now lived in the suburbs with his wife and child and successfully ran his own meat shop there. Gerald Johanssen had really outdone everyone. With his velvet voice, charming personality, and incomparable style and good looks, Gerald had landed a gig in Hollywood, as a co-host on one of television’s largest showcases of new musical talent. After just two years at that he became host of one of the largest late-night talk shows.

The rest of them hadn’t managed to do much but make mistakes, though some of them had escaped from Hillwood under more shady circumstances.

Rhonda Wellington Lloyd. She’d always wanted to be a fashion designer. Like the city of Hillwood the Wellington Lloyds had fallen on hard times when they were all in high school. Their famous old aristocratic name hadn’t protected them from financial advisors who were untrustworthy and on the take, and Rhonda's parents weren't very adept managers of their own affairs. Rhonda worked at Tildales as a personal shopper now, the closest she could come to fashion design.

Rhonda’s best friend Nadine had an interest in insects and wanted to be an entomologist. Only Rhonda knew the details of what had happened to Nadine and her family, and she would of course keep the secret. Nadine worked at the natural history museum now, leading tours through the section of the museum devoted to insects.

Poor sweet Lila Sawyer. She'd wanted to be an actress and had real talent, but she’d trusted the wrong man and ended up in a couple of films that she could never write home about. At least she hadn’t appeared under her own name; on the porn scene she was simply 'Luna'. For that and other reasons she was now hiding out under the name Lily Peters in the New Mexico desert, on a commune run by two of their other childhood friends, Stinky Peterson and Sheena, who was now Sheena Peterson though the two weren’t married.

Sheena had changed her last name to hide her identity, just in case, and Stinky didn’t ask questions. The commune was really his; she'd gone down there only a short time before Lila. The place suited both of them; Stinky had always had a talent for making things grow in the least likely places and Sheena had always been into natural food and growing her own. Most of the residents of the commune were artists and musicians. Sheena started crafting hand-made jewelry when she got down there, which she sold online under the name P. Shannon. They were self-sufficient in many ways, but they did rely on public utilities and had to buy certain things from the stores in town. Stinky was the one who always went to town to buy things, since Sheena didn’t want to be noticed by the wrong person.

Big Patty Smith. Not the brightest bulb in the bunch, but she was all right. When they were kids and Helga didn’t yet want anyone to know, Patty figured out her secret love for Arnold and kept it to herself. Patty was powerful, built like an ox, and she could beat some of the strongest men at arm wrestling. She worked as a bouncer at a seedy bar downtown now, rode a Harley, and was part of a gang of bikers who called themselves The Rat Pack 2.0. The Rat Pack 2.0 had dubiously designated themselves protectors of the neighborhood.

Phoebe Heyerdahl. Dear Phoebe. She was the technical genius who'd never quite fit into the tech world or the corporate world. The organizer, the brains behind their unsuccessful heist that might’ve turned all their lives around, she had chosen to bear the brunt of it and protect her friends. She’d remained silent, both in the custody of police and in court, and she’d never given up the names of anyone she worked with, even though the authorities knew who her friends were and grilled her about them. Phoebe would be in prison for five years at least, until she was up for parole.

Most of the group was tertiary: friends with Phoebe, but not best friends with her. Sheena and Lila were gone, living under false identities out of state, but keeping their noses clean for the most part. Rhonda, Nadine, and Patty had continued at their jobs and they were going about their lives. _If_ any of them were under surveillance they likely weren’t sending up any red flags. They all knew better and were keeping a low profile. Helga was the closest friend, the best friend, and the one the authorities would’ve scrutinized the most had she not immediately fled the state and then the country.

And now she was traveling the world with him. She wasn't Helga Pataki anymore. She had a stage name now, which he'd given her: Helena Geraldini. And a passport to match.

He wasn’t The Great Arnoldini, the amateur child magician, anymore. He was Phillip Arnold Steel, Master of Illusion, and his act was stunning. He'd left town about two years ago with nothing but a note to her after his grandparents passed away and he lost the boarding house to some slippery charlatan. At least he'd left a note, but it had been a real blow at the time. He could've talked to her and told her what was going on with him. There was nothing they couldn't do together, and she would've understood, whatever it was.

It was the note that led her to him though, and she thought, hoped that had been intentional. He'd mentioned that he'd returned to his first love, magic. She hadn't remembered magic being his first love ever, even if he did have that act for a very short time when they were nine. But she took the hint and began to track magic acts all over America, entertainment companies that sent out magic acts, cabarets in large cities, acts in Atlantic City and Las Vegas. Helga didn't know where the 'Steel' came from but when she saw the 'Phillip Arnold' she _knew_ it was him. Phil was his grandfather's name. That was how she found him in Vegas and she'd made a beeline there as soon as Phoebe warned her to get out of town.

The blonde assistant he’d been working with didn’t hurt the act – she was great eye candy, after all – but she didn’t have much style. When the opportunity came to take the act on the road internationally, he knew he’d need a better assistant. Helga didn’t know whether he genuinely thought she would make a good assistant or if he was just willing to help a good friend who he loved very much and was glad to see again. He’d always been willing to help anyone who was in trouble, and she was in it deep.

But so was he, and she knew it, even before she saw the passport he was traveling with, which identified him as Phillip Steel not Arnold Shortman.

He confronted her first, one afternoon in the Paris flat they'd rented. "I read about Phoebe. She says she worked alone but I don't believe that."

"Neither does anyone else, Arnold. We were all involved."

"Who is all?"

"All the girls from the old gang. Phoebe, me, Rhonda, Nadine, Lila, Sheena, Big Patty. We were all in it together."

"And you all let Phoebe take the fall all by herself? I can't believe it."

"It was her idea."

"And you went along with it?"

"Hey, she wanted to protect us all. And anyway, what about you? How could you just leave without a word to me? With nothing but a note."

He looked away for a moment, uncomfortable, then faced her again. "I'm sorry. I had to leave in a hurry. I didn't—"

"Did you kill someone?"

She was only joking but to her horror his face fell.

"No, I didn't kill him. But I might've. I hurt him pretty bad."

"Oh."

"Changing my name kept me safe, but I was glad for the chance to leave the states. They might've tracked me eventually. I'm safer here. I left the note for you because I didn't want to — I wanted you to know that I wasn't just leaving because of us or anything. And anyway, that's not an excuse, Helga—"

She ignored the last part. "Was this, was it related to the boarding house?"

"Yeah."

"You should've told me, Arnold. I'm your friend. I would've understood. Maybe I could've helped."

"I know, and I should've talked to you. But I needed to get away and I didn't want you involved in something."

"I'm already involved with my own thing so it doesn't matter."

"I know that now and I'm sorry for it. " He reached out and gently stroked her cheek. "You know I care about you, Helga. Look, we've both been caught up getting you proficient at your part in the act and then we got here and had three shows a night, every night for weeks."

"I've been enjoying it though. It's given me a lot of practice and I'm comfortable now."

"You're great at it, Helga. I knew you'd be good and that you'd have style on stage, but I didn't realize how much dexterity you have, too. You really have a knack for this."

His expression was warm and full of pride and devastating.

"We finally have a night off tonight. I'll bring in dinner, wine. We can relax and talk about everything. I want to tell you what happened, and I want to know about you and the others. Okay?"

"Okay. Dinner and wine sounds nice. Anyway, I can't be too angry with you, can I. You're the one who helped me escape and you gave me a steady job."

"I also gave you a spectacular stage name."

He winked and she couldn't help but smile.


End file.
